Tag: security

Digitizing the Titling Process, Safely and Efficiently

On November 14, 2022

Henry Ford shook the automobile industry with the introduction of his Ford Model T back in 1908. By turning the current business model at that time upside down, he created a path forward for every consumer and family to own their own vehicle. Now, just over 100 years later, we’re witnessing a new automotive transformation, powered by the likes of Tesla, CarMax, Carvana and Vroom, strengthened by a global pandemic and solidified by consumer demand: the digitization of car buying.

Online car purchases represent about 11% of all car sales. That’s expected to grow considerably—over 50% in the coming 4-5 years—and along with this new frontier, other aspects of the process are following suit. Vehicle titling, for example, has long been a time-consuming process for state governments and their motor vehicle constituents, in addition to being prone to errors, expensive and susceptible to fraud. That could soon change as states begin to adopt a digital solution that can effectively serve today’s unique challenges.

Prior to the digital age, vehicle records were kept via paper and filing cabinets. The process was intensive, and the information wasn’t available to anyone outside of the physical location where the records were kept. Along came expensive back-up systems, then computers and finally e-titling. While all seemed well, a bigger, more dangerous problem emerged: cyber threats. The rise of malicious attacks and other potential cyber threats made it difficult to manage the data safely. Even still today, the e-titling process remains fragmented, with each state having their own system, leaving the door open for fraud and driving up costs while lowering productivity.

“Titling is complicated, involving numerous stakeholders, and it’s getting more difficult to manage in a digital world where the average online car sale is purchased from someone living 900+ miles from the dealership and across state lines,” said Shane Bigelow, CEO of CHAMPtitles (“CHAMP”), a Cleveland, Ohio-based technology startup. “For companies buying and selling vehicles throughout the country, this issue is much more prevalent, often leading to even longer delays and more opportunities for bad actors to take advantage of the system.”

CHAMP is revolutionizing the vehicle titling and registration process with a first-of-its-kind Digital Titling, Registration and Lien Management SaaS software. Not only does it modernize DMV title and registration management, but CHAMP’s new Digital Title and Registration Services (DTRS) also offers NSA-level security protections against fraud.

“Our security-first titling, registration, and lien management platform is secured by a three-pronged approach that includes a segmented and segregated network; encryption of data in transit and at rest, using elliptic curve cryptography; and the utilization of private-public key infrastructure. In short, aggregate government is waking up to the risks of not using today’s best thinking in technology, and we are excited to be part of the solutions they seek,” Bigelow said.

The state of West Virginia was an early adopter of this innovative titling technology. “We are proud to be the first state to allow this groundbreaking technology to be a reality for all members of our community. We do believe that enabling blockchain based vehicle titling will offer significant benefits for our auto dealers, lenders, insurance companies, all of their service providers, and most importantly, our citizens,” said Everett Frazier, Commissioner of West Virginia’s Division of Motor Vehicles. “Since the launch, the benefits have been abundant for those who have onboarded to our dealer submission service or our electronic lien and title service, with lots more to come thanks to the forward-thinking design of the DTRS solution from CHAMP. Realizing benefits incrementally has really been great for West Virginia and all who are enjoying these improved ways of transacting, not least of which is the DMV.”

People often do not think of the consequences of poor record keeping, but it can and does cause major financial or legal problems, as well as the potential for data to be corrupted by bad actors. These consequences can be multiplied in the vehicle titling space, where there are so many stakeholders involved in every transaction, each represented by their state’s own unique government procedures and regulations. Paper processes create incredible costs and slow the pace of commerce, while limiting innovation and providing the easiest path for fraud. Digital processes solve these concerns but require extensive knowledge of cyber security protocols to keep information secure.

“Many of the legacy systems still in use today don’t have the ability to effectively and safely process the thousands of transactions per day and store or transfer the millions of files that otherwise become printed pieces of paper,” Bigelow said. “And when the systems go down, no one knows how to fix them because those who understand the outdated technology are no longer in the industry.”

CHAMP is on a mission to make these problems relics of the past. Its online solution creates legal, verified digital car titles that enable transferability between state governments, insurance carriers, financial institutions, auto dealers and consumers.

The patented software digitizes title and registration processes for states as well as their constituents in the title and registration process – vehicle dealers, lenders, service providers, salvers, and insurance carriers to name a few. Further, the technology allows the transfer of ownership of titles to occur in minutes instead of the weeks that most states and their constituents endure today. Other companies have offered their versions of online titling and registration but not to the extent of CHAMP’s, and none have successfully built their platforms with DTRS and limited the change management burden for states—and that’s a major differentiator. DTRS offers a proven method for encryption that certifies corrupt-free data, reducing the risk of fraud and cyber threats, while offering the fastest modernization available in the industry today.

As the world continues to move toward the digital landscape, partners in the title ecosystem are awakening to the security benefits of this digitized titling and registration process. And now that states, banks, vehicle retailers, insurance companies and many others can quantify the savings and benefits, consumers will soon benefit greatly from the adoption of this technology by government.

CHAMP’s end-to-end vehicle titling and registration solution is rapidly becoming the go-to answer for states to modernize their title, registration and lien management capabilities.

To learn more about CHAMP and its revolutionary encryption titling and registration software, please visit champtitles.com.

The Case for Digitization by Blockchain

By CHAMPtitles

On November 23, 2020

In Business, Government

By Ben Walton, CHAMPtitles

Digitization is the process of creating a digital representation of an asset. You can read more about that in our earlier post here.

Blockchain technologies are well suited to be the system of record for these digital representations. They have the potential to improve asset security, efficiency of the processes involving the asset, and trust among the parties using the asset.

The blockchain structure can be thought of as entries in a book (or ledger). Each entry represents a transaction which includes creating, modifying, and destroying the digital representation. Due to the structure of a blockchain, an entry itself cannot be altered or removed. The only way to modify the state of an asset is through a new transaction. With this additional security, users of the blockchain are more inclined to trust the authenticity of the data on the ledger.

If you imagine that the entries in the ledger are about an asset (perhaps medical records) being shared or exchanged between two parties, then you can use the ledger to understand who has modified or transferred which assets. This provides built-in trust to the system due to the transparent nature of how the ledger stores data. A third-party auditor could easily look at the ledger and follow the flow of data to construct a timeline of which parties own or have edited which assets. This transparency will help to reduce fraud and eliminate disputes arising from two parties having differing information.

Another feature of blockchain data storage is that the ledger can be held in multiple locations. This way, the data is no longer siloed in one location, so it is more secure from cyberattacks that attempt to hold the data hostage until a ransom is paid or corrupt it in some way.

With this inherent trust between users of the blockchain system, the concept of programmable logic called smart contracts can be introduced. In the blockchain system, these smart contracts can be written in such a way that they automatically execute when certain conditions are met. For example, let us assume the asset is an eBook where Party A (Alice) owns the book and Party B (Bob) would like to purchase it. Alice has set a price of $20 for the book. Bob enters his payment information and creates an order to purchase the book up to a price of $50. Once the blockchain system recognizes that the book is available for purchase and someone has agreed to buy it for that price, the smart contract is automatically triggered and purchases the book for Bob from Alice for $20. The power of smart contracts is that they significantly improve efficiency. They can automate many of the processes, if not all, involving an asset.

Blockchain technologies enhance asset security, improve the efficiency of the transactions involving the asset, and increase trust among the involved parties. Blockchain may not be suited for all digitization efforts but is worth exploring and testing as a path for achieving digitization.

Impacts of Digitization (Part ll of III) – Enhanced Security

By CHAMPtitles

On May 26, 2020

In Business, Government

By Ben Walton, CHAMPtitles

There is no process with zero risk, only those with very little risk. When improving the security of a process, the goal is to minimize risk as much as possible. To do this, all potential risks are identified, prioritized, and then mitigated, reduced, or accepted. In a paper-based process, there are inherent risks including fraud and loss. When the process becomes digitized, these risks are nearly eliminated.

Fraud can occur in a paper process due to the time lag between when a transaction takes place and when the system of record is updated. Let’s look at a hypothetical situation to better understand how this could happen. We have three individuals: A, B, and C. Individual A sells an asset to individual B. B verifies the authenticity of the asset against a third-party system – it is authentic, so B purchases the asset. B then mails a paper document to an authorized individual to update the third-party system with the change in ownership. Now A sells a duplicate or forged copy of the asset to C. Individual C verifies the authenticity of the asset against the system – it is still authentic because B’s paper document has not yet been received, so C purchases the asset. This time lag has allowed A to commit fraud and receive two separate payments for selling the same asset.

In the digital world, real time communication eliminates the time lag for transactions. Returning to our hypothetical situation, the system of record is updated or flagged as soon as individual B purchases the asset. When individual A attempts to sell a duplicate or forged copy of the asset, the authentication test fails revealing the inauthenticity of the asset attempting to be sold.

Loss, damage, or theft can occur when a paper-based process has an associated physical asset. Let’s look at the example of paying for something. Cash or a credit card can be stolen and then used to make a purchase. Cash can always be used to transact, and a credit card can be used until it is deactivated by the owner, which takes time.

In the digital world, digital payment methods such as Apple Pay provide more security. Theft can still occur; a smart device with a mobile payment option can be stolen and then used to purchase something. However, more built-in security checks mean there is a lower chance of it happening. For example, Apple Pay requires a password to unlock the smart device and then another password to access the application. Multi-factor authentication can also be enabled to add yet another password.

To be clear, digitizing a process does not make it completely secure, but it is infinitely more secure than a paper-based one because it eliminates the inherent risks that lead to fraud or loss. Digitization allows for real-time communication, which removes the time lag for transactions to be recorded and eliminates the chance an asset can be transacted upon twice. A digital asset in place of a physical asset allows for more security measures to be enabled to protect the owner from loss or theft. The relationship between digitization and enhanced security is appealing and further underscores the benefits of creating a digital asset. And still, there is one more to be addressed up next: the environmental benefits.